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Segment under development. Below is a review by Charles Pope
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Review:
Ahmed Osman's Out of
Egypt by Charles N. Pope
Charles
Pope publishes: thedomaninofman.com
Out
of Egypt:
The Roots of Christianity Revealed, by Ahmed Osman
presents the most complete examination to date on the relationship
of the Amarna Period in Egypt with the birth of Israel. This
book also presents fresh insight into the surprising Amarna
precursors to Chrisitanity. As a result, the reader is provided
with the most comprehensive, coherent and credible picture
to date of the elusive origins of Judaism and Old Testament
Messianic prophesy. The formidable challenge for Western readers
will be in mustering the initial willingness to at least enterain
that the Amarna Kings, including Akhenaten and Tutankhamun
(yes, as in the former Pharaohs of Egypt), could have even
remotely had anything to do with Judaism, much less Christianity.
Yet, if one is somehow able to do this, the most amazing discovery
in Religion of this entire century is waiting to be understood!
With that potential payoff in mind, a charitable forbearance
on the part of the reader is more than justified.
One tenet
(of many) developed in Mr. Osman's new book is surprisingly
straightforward when compared with today's confusing Dead
Sea Scroll (DSS) theories. The 1st Century A.D. Jewish historian,
Josephus, identified the Essenes as one of the four major
Jewish sects of that period. Mr. Osman demonstrates that the
name "Essene" is to be translated as "follower of Jesus (Essa)."
This obvious literal translation had been overlooked, because
of previously unquestioned assumptions about the novel origins
of Christianity in the first Century A.D. In the new Eerdman's
title, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis, Gabriele Boccaccini (p
47) implies that a convincing etymology for the name Essene
has not been found, but that it applies to a larger group
within Palestine that also included the Qumran community.
Osman further points out that the particular "followers of
Jesus" who were responsible for the DSS would naturally have
drawn upon the book of Isaiah (also quite literally translated
as "the book of Esais/Jesus") as their primary source of inspiration,
and that no less than 18 copies of Isaiah have been found
among the DSS.
If the
namesake of the Essenes was not the first Century A.D. Jesus
of Nazareth, then who could he have been? The first and most
significant individual in the Old Testament record to be given
the name Jesus was Joshua son of Nun, leader of the Israelite
conquest of Canaan. (It is recognized that the most accurate
translation is Jesus, and that Joshua is used in modern English
translations to avoid "confusion." See footnotes in the King
James Version where "Joshua" is found.) The logical place
to look for the Jesus of the Essenes would therefore be in
the person of Joshua, the man that Moses clearly designated
as his equal (Deuteronomy 18:15). According to Osman, there
should be nothing particulary surprising about this association
either, as Christian thinkers from the early Church Fathers
(and especially Eusebius who further informs us that Jesus/Joshua
was NOT his original name) onward have always considered Joshua
to represent a "pre-existent" type or symbol of the Messiah
who was to come.
Out of
Egypt, The Roots of Christianity Revealed
Author:
Ahmed Osman
Publisher:
Random House UK 20 Vaxhall Bridge Road, London, England SW1V
28A Tel: 840-8855; or from the US: 011 44 171 840-8855 Date
of Publication: 3 September 1998
Random
House Australia (Pty) Limited 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point,
Sydney, New South Wales 2061, Australia
Random
House New Zealand Limited 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland
10, New Zealand
Random
House South Africa (Pty) Limited Endulini, 5a Jubilee Road,
Parktown 2193, South Africa
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